Recipes

I love chili more than any other dish, ever. I’ve been making different variations of chili for decades. I just can’t do without it. So when I found a great recipe online for white chicken chili, I had to try it. As usual, I messed with the recipe so it was more to my liking and was easier to make, as I am the quintessential lazy cook! Here is what I came up with:

INGREDIENTS

1 lb bacon

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

paprika

cumin

chili powder

cayenne pepper

onion powder

salt

pepper

4 cups chicken bone broth

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

8 oz softened cream cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups spinach

INSTRUCTIONS

Fry half of the bacon in a dutch oven or other large soup pot until extra crispy. Remove and chop up to add back in later.

Fry chicken halves in bacon grease over medium high heat to sear both sides – 2 to 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle each side with seasonings to taste.

Once browned, add 2 cups of chicken broth to cover and bring to a boil.

As far as I’m concerned, nothing beats a good muffin recipe that I can change up according to how I’m feeling and it’s always going to be delicious. This is that recipe. The original is actually Kasey Trenum’s Keto Pumpkin Bread recipe, but I’ve changed it up a little!

If you haven’t been to Kasey’s website, yet – go now (click here)! She has so many wonderful recipes. Her blueberry bread is great, too!

Here is my version, which I use to make 6 regular-size spice muffins. The pumpkin can be replaced with other squash like butternut, or even apple sauce as long as you adjust for any extra liquid. The spices can be bumped up with extra ginger or cardamom or lemon or orange zest. If you come up with other ideas, please let me know in the comments section below! 🙂

I’ve never been good about eating leafy green vegetables, which are such an important part of a healthy diet. Even when I was a strict vegan I didn’t eat enough of them. I’m just not a big fan of salads. Eating salad is like punishing myself for something. Cold, fibrous punishment. I pretty much have to find ways to sneak greens into my food, like I’m five. To this day my father doesn’t believe that I was ever a vegan, because he claims that as a kid the only green thing I would eat was an M&M.

Well, Dad, you probably won’t believe this, either, but I have a leafy green salad almost every day for lunch. Happily. This is because I found a way to make salad that doesn’t taste like salad. I make it with my all-time favorite food group: casserole! I don’t think I would have happened upon this idea had it not been for the influence of my college roommate who ate nothing but salad. She loved it so much she just piled even cooked veggies on top and ditched the dressing. I remember following her lead in the dining hall one day (and quite a few days after, because I liked it) by dumping stewed tomatoes on top of a green salad. I liked the fact that it wasn’t all cold, fibrous punishment. It tasted more like real food to me.

Every weekend now I make some new casserole, like the nacho chicken one in the picture here. It’s cauliflower based, actually, with onions and tomatoes and green chiles, as well as chicken, cheeses, sour cream and spices. I started with a recipe, but now I have a quick and easy way of making whatever casserole I feel like on the fly. I take a bag of cauliflower or broccoli pearls (or rice a head of cauliflower) and cook it in a large pan with some meat and my cooking fat of choice (when I use ground beef or bacon I just use the fat from the meat; otherwise, it’s usually olive oil or good-quality butter) and any other veggies I want that need to be cooked. When that’s all done, I add any seasonings, cheese, other veggies or meats that don’t need cooking – whatever I feel like adding – and make sure it’s all melted and mixed up completely. Then I put it in a casserole dish and bake it until it’s light brown and bubbly on top (usually about 15-20 minutes).

To make my idea of salad, I put a big handful (about 2 cups) of leafy greens in a bowl and top it with a serving of warmed-up casserole (I usually get about 6 servings per casserole). Then I add some healthy fat to it, like guacamole or parmesan cheese – or even salad dressing! It looks like a mess, but it tastes delicious and more like comfort food than salad, even though it’s more veg than anything else.

I hear so many people say they don’t cook much of their own food because they don’t know what to make or don’t have time to check out recipes or don’t want to go to the store for the one ingredient they’re missing. Well, now you folks have no excuse. This is the easiest kitchen-sink dish I know. Use whatever ingredients you have. Cook until veggies are soft and meat is not raw and cheese is melted. That’s the only cooking skill you need. Any greens will work and you can top it with whatever healthy, yummy fat tickles your fancy. Change it up every time, if you want to, so you never get bored. And because I’ll eat it and love it, you can bet your kids will, too. Enjoy, and if you come up with any epic ingredient combinations, let me know!

Just one serving of this delicious salad (and I’m not much of a salad person) has 3.4 grams of net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) and 42.8 grams of protein!

Serves 2.

Ingredients

8 oz flank or other steak

1 cup mushrooms chopped

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp heavy cream

salt & pepper

2 big handfuls of fresh arugula

1 more tbsp olive oil

1 chili pepper seeded and thinly sliced or chili powder to taste

2 oz brie

Instructions

Season both sides of the steak with salt and pepper and heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat

Cook the meat in a skillet (or however you’d like to cook it) for 3-5 minutes per side for medium rare. Transfer on a plate and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Slice it into bite-sized pieces.

Use the same skillet to cook the mushrooms. Add the tbsp of olive oil and add the chopped mushroom and chili pepper into the pan and cook over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes until brown.

Add the balsamic, salt and pepper and then take it off the heat. Add the heavy cream.

Add the meat into the pan with the cream and mushrooms and mix until coated, then transfer a serving on top of a big handful or two of arugula and garnish with brie.

This is my new favorite smoothie and regular in my culinary lineup! I have one almost every day. It has almost all of the fiber I need for the day and so much more. Who says keto is all meat and cheese? Welcome to primal keto. So many people have been asking for the recipe, so here it is. Make different versions by changing up the fruit, nut butter and protein powder flavor.